Brothers at War

The Unending Conflict in Korea

Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents the first comprehensive history of this misunderstood war, one that risks involving the world's superpowers--again. Her sweeping narrative ranges from the middle of the Second World War--when Korean independence was fiercely debated between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill--to the present day, as North Korea, with China's aid, stockpiles nuclear weapons while starving its people. At the center of this conflict is an ongoing struggle between North and South Korea for the mantle of Korean legitimacy, a "brother's war," which continues to fuel tensions on the Korean peninsula and the region.

Drawing from newly available diplomatic archives in China, South Korea, and the former Soviet Union, Jager analyzes top-level military strategy. She brings to life the bitter struggles of the postwar period and shows how the conflict between the two Koreas has continued to evolve to the present, with important and tragic consequences for the region and the world. Her portraits of the many fascinating characters that populate this history--Truman, MacArthur, Kim Il Sung, Mao, Stalin, and Park Chung Hee--reveal the complexities of the Korean War and the repercussions this conflict has had on lives of many individuals, statesmen, soldiers, and ordinary people, including the millions of hungry North Koreans for whom daily existence continues to be a nightmarish struggle.

The most accessible, up-to date, and balanced account yet written, illustrated with dozens of astonishing photographs and maps, Brothers at War will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle's origins and aftermath and its global impact for years to come.

Opinion

From the critics

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Quotes

[On the Clinton Administration's Agreed Framework between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea]

A Washington Post editorial opined, "How can such an agreement even be defended? ... It pays North Korea, and handsomely, for returning to the nonnuclear obligations it took on and violated and ideally should not have been paid for at all... The accord sets an international precedent that lets the North Koreans keep hiding for years the very facilities whose inspection would show their nuclear cheating to day."

In the emerging cold war environment, a calculated determination was made that rebuilding Japan, rather than punishing Japanese war criminals, would better serve the long term security interests of the United States and the free world.

Comment

This is a very good book on the overview of the Korean Conflict. It best details the major players, battles, and ideologies behind the Korean War. Given our current political climate I felt compelled to learn more about how we came to where we are today.

The first half of the book deals almost entirely with the war itself and the events leading up to and following it. It is a very gripping narrative, objectively told with points of view on all sides, and not leaving out any of the grisly and brutal details. The military maps are a bit difficult to read.

The second half of the book is not nearly as interesting and does not take it's time like the first half. After the war the book focuses more on China, Russia and U.S. Cold War policy/motivations. The Korean history after this point zips by, particularly the early 70's to late 90's period. Again, as we get closer to current day the book peters out a bit in terms of details and becomes more subjective musings on the situation.

All in all a very informative book I would recommend to anyone interested in the Korean War and each nations fomenting in it's aftermath.